Critiquing Albums Like I Could Make Anything Better: Ten Days by Fred Again

I thought about writing a little life update this week, in light of the glorious arrival of spring. But I’m sitting up near the lighthouse after watching possibly the first sunrise I’ve seen on purpose in years–and Fred Again’s newest album Ten Days is playing in my ears, and I’m feeling very chummy about it all. So that’s what I’ll write until the time that I would usually wake up. Ten Days, Fred Again’s 4th studio album (according to google) came out yesterday, and I listened to it almost immediately as I woke up. I sat outside, drank my coffee, cleaned a bit, and got ready for my day. Yesterday was a big day for me, and it was the best start possible. I have a bit of a hibernation reaction to winter, and this album is the perfect start for warmer days.

Usually when I find an album I like enough to write about, I feel the need to go over my credentials. I don’t have a “heard it before it blew up” relationship toward Fred Again’s work. I don’t make a point of listening to his music. I am not a seasoned fan of his work. But I like Fred Again, he just isn’t someone that I’ve purposefully dug into in recent years. I loved tracks like Angie (i’ve been lost) and Diane (You Don’t Even Know) for years. I loved Marea (we’ve lost dancing) when I heard it – culturally speaking. It’s an absolute landmark. I took my time to appreciate adore u properly, but I well and truly got there. Truth be told, I wouldn’t necessarily know who Fred Again is if it weren’t for my unconditional love for Angie McMahon and all that she does. But that can’t be a bad way of becoming a fan.

When he visited Australia earlier this year, I didn’t realise how many people absolutely love his work. I feel like I have my finger on the pulse about upcoming music, but Fred Again caught me by surprise. I didn’t know he had such an established community around him. People were tripping over themselves trying to get tickets. I sorely regret not going to his shows, but I’m sure he’ll be back.

This album is fun, intimate and fairly experimental, but still in the realm of Fred Again’s past work (the work that I’ve heard, anyway). The album is structured in an interesting manner. Every second track is an interlude that introduces the next, if you listen to it in order. While this is clever, it doesn’t leave me with a lot to write about on a track-by-track basis, so I will skip the interludes for this review. I love them though, and I love the structure, so don’t get any funny ideas about why I am excluding them.

NOTE: Akin to the title of this review, I really have no business reviewing house music. I can’t talk about different instrument and production techniques in a knowledgeable way for electronic music. So keep that in mind.

Tracklist (minus interludes)

.one

I know I just said I wouldn’t include interludes, but this seems like a full track in its own right, and it has all the interludes in it, so I’ll say my piece on this.

One of my favourite things I’ve ever made this little video project I did last year for a university class. Needless to say, I am an absolute sucker for a bunch of out of context audio clips cut together. It is probably my favourite thing modern audio technology allows us to do. You get to either apply your own context or just enjoy it for what it is. You can wonder about it all, or you can soak up the lovely meaninglessness. I think in any artistic case; it takes incredible skill to create something that is obviously personally meaningful, but also grants a listener the autonomy to take it on in their own way. That is a strength of this whole album. This track is a joy. It’s interesting, and it ties the album together. I didn’t know whether it would be necessary to listen to this album in order, but after the first track, and looking at the tracklist, I decided it was for the best.

adore u

This song came out in August last year. If I’m honest, I hadn’t really listened to this song until the Hottest 100 earlier this year. It should have won, in hindsight. It’s a great song and I’ve come back to it since almost every week I’m sure. My girlfriend put it on a playlist for me. It’s just a beautiful track. Really fun, really summery, really adoring, if you will. Rumour has it. This song is about Fred’s little sister. I think that is very sweet, as I was wondering if he had a child after listening to this song for the 50th time.

ten

This is probably the highest energy track on this album. I imagine it would be great to run to and when I’m old enough for a knee replacement. Maybe I’ll remember to try it out. At points in the song, it reminds me heavily of Shelter by Porter Robinson.

fear less

This isn’t one of my personal favourites, but I like it. It’s not the most interesting song to me, but it has a good energy. It’ll grow on me, I’m sure. Great road trip song if you’re ever in need. This might be a silly thing to say, but at points in this album, it feels like the different reverb and swells between verses are intended to depict passing time. This song, in particular, gives the impression of being written from a memory. I wonder how that would translate at a live show.

just stand there

I sent this track to my partner after hearing it for the first time. We’re celebrating one beautiful year together on Wednesday. I know some people might not consider one year to be a long time–but 365 days of pure peace, love and enjoyment have changed both of us so deeply. It’s almost inconceivable to remember a time before we were each other’s. This song, however, makes it easier to remember the early phases of us learning what loving each other could look like. It’s also just a really interesting approach to telling a story. It’s as if he’s chopped up a really sappy podcast episode about two people falling in love.

places to be

I have been listening to this since it was released as a single, not too long ago. It’s very motivating, it’s really great. I love Anderson Paak, and he makes this song astronomically fun to listen to. There is, in fact, “something about that song that makes you want to bust a f**king move”, because as I’m sitting here writing this, I am bouncing my leg and bopping my head against my will.

glow

I don’t have a lot of feelings about this song. It’s great, it’s not my favourite, but it will go on my writing playlist, nonetheless. I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Fred Again live, but I imagine this song would be a highlight. The last minute or so is extremely fun. As much as I love Phoebe Bridgers, I am inexplicably glad that the music in the spotlight right now is majoritively more upbeat. I love some sadgirl stuff, but I LOVE that music is fun again–and seemingly without sacrificing lyrical intimacy. I think this album as a whole, and Brat particularly, has equal moments of fun young energy and reflective mindful lyrics. This song, however, is mostly instrumental – I can’t make out any lyrics but there are vocals in there. Also Skrillex is featured?

i saw you

This is the sappiest and saddest song of the album. I like it. I think Ethel Cain could do a brilliant cover of it, strangely.

where will i be

I double checked the featured artists on this song because I thought it sounded like a hyped-up song by The Killers. In fact, the voice we hear is Emmylou Harris. I haven’t listened to the rest of their music, but this is great. Again, this is a really reflective song. It’s fairly dreamy. I like that we hear traces of laughter and conversation in the track too.

peace u need

This was one of my favourites on the first listen. I love the heartbeat bass in the first verse, it really builds suspense, and again, I’m sure it would be incredible live. “Take a piece of me, I hope you get the peace you need” is so clever. It has the energy of 2013-2016 house music and that makes me extremely happy. I thought that when I was old enough to go to festivals and such, that this was the sort of music that I’d get to boogie to. Unfortunately, the festival scene in Australia has changed drastically since I was 12, but I’ll happily take this track as a consolation prize.

backseat

First and foremost, I am a diehard fan of The Japanese House. This track interpolates the title track from their incredible 2023 album “In the End It Always Does”. I never shut up about that album and it means so much to me, certainly at the time it came out. When I saw the title of this track, and the feature ‘the Japanese house’, I just about squealed. I waited in anticipation for this song as I listened to the entire album in order. Fred Again did not do me wrong here. I finished the album and played this track on a loop for about half an hour, actually.

I remember back in the day when he did a similar thing with his track Angie (I’ve been lost)–while Angie McMahon is not someone I’d call underground by any means; It is always a treat to have great remixes of my favourite songs from less known artists. It makes me really emotional, actually. Big fan of this song.

Track Ranking

1. adore u
2. peace u need
3. backseat
4. places to be
5. just stand there
6. ten
7. where will i be
8. i saw you
9. fear less
10. glow